And lockdown is done

 

2021 has been a hell of a year thus far. Our momentum on the house build was great, and we were racing toward an occupancy certificate – and then disaster. Covid hit Canberra, and with it an immediate plunge into lockdown. We went into lockdown in mid-August, and have just come out in the last couple of weeks. We tried to apply for exemptions to get to the farm, but were continually denied. It wasn’t worth it to run the gauntlet – both Jane and I would have been putting jobs on the line, and the fines were astronomical. We just had to sit tight and wait. And wait…

We home schooled, and learned new levels of tolerance. MacK learned to bake bread, and definitely has baker’s hands, and I worked on perfecting my croissant dough. Both the boys have decided they are fishermen (not sure how that works, given both Jane and I don’t fish…), and love to throw in a lone whenever they can.

We haven’t posted since February, despite our best intentions. The year has just been too busy with the build schedule, travel to and from the farm, school and work. It is fair to say we are exhausted! The boys have grown – MacK is almost as tall as Jane, and Hugo is bigger than the majority of his class mates.

The house is now almost liveable – We now have tiled bathrooms, and we have commissioned one of the indoor showers. One of the kitchens is complete, and we have hot water inside! It is a far cry from the early days, when we would cook in the shed, and shower from a canvas bucket. I am amazed that Jane has maintained her sense of humour – the winter nights when she would sleep on the floor under a gas heater with a beanie on would test most, but are fortunately now just a memory. We now have a combustion heater in the living room and real beds! Luxury…

Both Jane and I are developing new skills from the build. Jane has mastered her rendering recipe and technique – and loves time playing in the mud. The walls of the house look fantastic and are as tactile and earthy as we had hoped. She has almost finished welding balustrades and handrails and then she can get back to welding for fun! I have had a crack at tiling both walls and floors, and we have definitely made the right decision to tile the dry areas ourselves. I am a bit messier than the professionals we had in, but the savings in time and cost is huge!

Out to the end of the year, our focus is getting ready for an interim occupancy certificate assessment. Just waiting on one of our tradesmen to finish outstanding works. Lockdown slowed us down, but we should be able to reschedule again now! We had planned to move to the farm in January – this will now be pushed out to April, at the end of the first school term. We will get there!